Our Mission

Union Profile: Who Are We?

We are workers who care enough about our jobs and working conditions to stand together with our co-workers when we negotiate for wages and benefits and all the other conditions of our employment. We follow certain rules and laws when we bargain and we follow even more rules and procedures when we conduct the day-to-day business of running our office or holding our meetings or any of the other activities that being united requires of us.

Some of us get involved in the running of our Union – we serve as Shop Stewards and on Shop Committees, attend meetings and training sessions, and even run for elected office within the Union. And we go to work every day and put extra time into our Union because we believe in what we are doing.

There is always room for willing hands in one or another part of our Union’s work. We can help organize new shops, we can help out on picnic day, we can support candidates for public office by working phone banks, we can write to our elected officials to let them know how we feel about issues affecting Labor and working families.

As a member of a Union you have become an important part of us – and we welcome you into a long and proud tradition of Brotherhood and mutual support. Now it is your Union too.

Your Union Dues pay for the cost of negotiating and serving you and the Collective Bargaining Agreement under which you work. That includes the cost of negotiating your contract including paying your negotiating committee for time lost from work in order to negotiate, costs for record keeping and communications with you and your employer, the cost of your Union office and staff and a portion of your Business Representative’s salaries. Your dues pay for the cost of Union Meetings and elections, printing of your Contracts, training of your Business Representatives in Labor Law, Pension and Insurance Law and administrative oversight practices, grievance handling and arbitration costs in addition to providing member education in Health & Safety training, High Performance Work Organization development and other areas of improved workplace safety and efficiency.

What Don’t My Dues Pay For?

Your Union dues are used to support ‘Labor-friendly’ candidates that are invited to become Sponsoring members of the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League which is a completely separate organization. You may even be able to do that through your payroll deductions; many of our shops now have that written into their contracts.

What is a ‘Union Contract’?

A Union Contract – more properly called a Collective Bargaining Agreement – is a legal and binding contract between a Certified Bargaining Representative (the Union) and an employer. Your Union has been properly elected by the employees in your shop as their chosen representative for the purpose of negotiating your contract and representing you in any disputes with your employer.